Ridley Scott’s “Napoleon” cuts the emperor down to size

Two versions of Napoleon Bonaparte crop up on the screen. This is the figure with whom men of a certain age and type are often fascinated—such as would-be statesman Connor Roy, who in the TV show “Succession” tries to buy Napoleon’s shrivelled penis at auction. You might expect the hero of “Napoleon”, a lavish film directed by Sir Ridley Scott and released on November 22nd, to stand firmly in the potentate camp. This emperor is not like Marlon Brando’s, the suavest to don the familiar greatcoat, in his case for “Désirée”, which chronicles Napoleon’s passion for, er, Désirée Clary, briefly his fiancée. For all his derring-do, he has a whiff of the grouchy Napoleon in “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure”, who is teleported to modern America, hogs the ice cream and cheats at ten-pin bowling.